Prestige Drama
On sale
7th May 2026
Price: £14.99
‘A comedy about tragedy. Séamas O’Reilly has written a brutal, profound, and very funny novel’ NINA STIBBE
‘Sparkling with heartache and wit. I’m in love with every character in this novel’ CAROLINE O’DONOGHUE
‘Prestige Drama is bristlingly funny, richly humane . . . Séamas O’Reilly is a writer with a rare and vital comic gift’ MARK O’CONNELL
Derry is already abuzz with news that famous American actor, Monica Logue, has flown to the city and will be starring in a new series set during the Troubles. And then she goes missing . . .
All eyes are on Diarmuid, the flaky scriptwriter who was the last to see Monica alive. From budding young actors hoping for a role to grieving parent whose story forms the backbone of the narrative; newspaper editors covering the mystery to taxi drivers hearing all the news from their clients, Prestige Drama follows the city’s cast as they all try to locate themselves in Monica’s disappearance.
Séamas O’Reilly’s debut novel is a comedy about dramatising tragedy, and the responsibilities of a teller to a tale. It brings to life the voices of a city, the people, families and communities who find themselves obsessed with, and terrified of, interrogating their past.
‘Séamas is one of my favourite living writers. Honestly – there is nobody else who could write a book like this about tragedy, loss and who gets to tell a story, with such deft and moving wit’ EVA WISEMAN
‘Prestige Drama is a hilarious and profound novel. Seamas O’Reilly has an acute ear for the rhythms of real speech, and for the lies we tell ourselves’ ED CAESAR
‘Sparkling with heartache and wit. I’m in love with every character in this novel’ CAROLINE O’DONOGHUE
‘Prestige Drama is bristlingly funny, richly humane . . . Séamas O’Reilly is a writer with a rare and vital comic gift’ MARK O’CONNELL
Derry is already abuzz with news that famous American actor, Monica Logue, has flown to the city and will be starring in a new series set during the Troubles. And then she goes missing . . .
All eyes are on Diarmuid, the flaky scriptwriter who was the last to see Monica alive. From budding young actors hoping for a role to grieving parent whose story forms the backbone of the narrative; newspaper editors covering the mystery to taxi drivers hearing all the news from their clients, Prestige Drama follows the city’s cast as they all try to locate themselves in Monica’s disappearance.
Séamas O’Reilly’s debut novel is a comedy about dramatising tragedy, and the responsibilities of a teller to a tale. It brings to life the voices of a city, the people, families and communities who find themselves obsessed with, and terrified of, interrogating their past.
‘Séamas is one of my favourite living writers. Honestly – there is nobody else who could write a book like this about tragedy, loss and who gets to tell a story, with such deft and moving wit’ EVA WISEMAN
‘Prestige Drama is a hilarious and profound novel. Seamas O’Reilly has an acute ear for the rhythms of real speech, and for the lies we tell ourselves’ ED CAESAR
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Reviews
Prestige Drama is a hilarious and profound novel. Seamas O'Reilly has an acute ear for the rhythms of real speech, and for the lies we tell ourselves
Séamas is one of my favourite living writers. Honestly - there is nobody else who could write a book like this about tragedy, loss and who gets to tell a story, with such deft and moving wit
Séamas O'Reilly has created a vast mosaic of voices, each sparkling with heartache and wit. I'm in love with every character in this novel, and like most prestige dramas, it ended far too soon.
Everyone's going to talk about how funny Prestige Drama is. That's a no brainer. But behind every brilliant line is shimmering humanity, and a deeply satisfying investigation into one of fiction's biggest questions. Does taking your broken heart and making it into art actually work, or just lead to the creation of more broken hearts?
Séamas O'Reilly is very good
A comedy about tragedy. Séamas O'Reilly has written a brutal, profound, and very funny novel
A tragicomic portrait of a community . . . vital, soulful, reflective, battle-scarred, comic, and/or profane . . . A virtuoso chorus of community experience gives voice to undead trauma
Prestige Drama is bristlingly funny, richly humane, and alive with insight into how we live with the complexities of a violent past. Séamas O'Reilly is a writer with a rare and vital comic gift